HOPEWELL, Hanover — Deputy Leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Dr Christopher Tufton is urging members of the party's youth affiliate, Generation 2000 (G2K), to embark on a recruitment drive for the party.

"My first challenge to G2K is that we can't allow the PNP (People's National Party) to go out there and recruit and sell to potential supporters and get them to support them, while we sit back and watch the challenge and do nothing about it. We have to get involved, too," Tufton charged.

He was addressing a youth forum on Tuesday at the Smoked Marlin Restaurant and Bar in Hopewell, Hanover, which was hosted by the recently formed Hanover chapter of G2K.

Dr Tufton's comment came in the wake of a Jamaica Observer story, which quoted former PNP president PJ Patterson, who is also the co-chair of that party's 75th anniversary celebrations committee, as saying that the PNP will be embarking on a major recruitment drive, as part of its celebrations.

Dr Tufton, in his address on Tuesday, sought to explain the main reasons why his party needs to embark on a similar recruitment drive.

"We have to understand that what the [Jamaica] Labour Party stands for and traditionally stood for, and the track record of performance of the party gives us the right to make the claim that we will work better for, the people of the country and the community if we get the support of those young people and others in the country," he explained.